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No verdict reached Friday in Aberdeen Army sex trial

Army sex trial

3 Texas officers imprisoned for sexual misconduct

April 25, 1997
Web posted at: 7:34 p.m. EDT (2334 GMT)

ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND, Maryland (CNN) -- A military jury deliberated all day Friday without reaching a verdict in the court-martial of an Army drill sergeant accused of raping six women under his command.

The five-man, one-woman jury, which got the case of Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson Thursday afternoon, is set to resume deliberations Saturday morning.

Simpson is charged with 19 counts of rape and 35 other charges, including forcible sodomy, indecent assault and maltreatment, in connection with alleged incidents of sexual misconduct at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Simpson's case is one of several sex scandals that have made headlines in recent months at military bases across the country. Another one of those cases was partially resolved Friday, when the Army announced that three of its officers based in Texas were kicked out of the military and sent to prison.

19 implicated in Texas Army sex scandal

The three -- Lt. Trevor Gordon, Maj. Eddie Brenham and Capt. Ivan Brown -- pleaded guilty during court-martial proceedings to sexual misconduct charges at Fort Bliss, near El Paso. Nineteen officers and soldiers at that base have been accused of sexual misconduct with female enlisted soldiers.

Austin and El Paso, Texas

Gordon was sentenced to 20 months in prison, Brenham to six months and Brown to three months. All were discharged from the Army.

Fort Bliss spokesman Tom Collins said that the cases at Fort Bliss were all separate and distinct.

"I want to make it clear that this was not a ring of offenders," Collins said.

Nine other soldiers at Fort Bliss have received administrative punishments. In addition, a lawsuit has been filed by 13 former and current civilian female employees, asking for $4 million in damages from the Army for allegedly allowing sexual misconduct to take place at the base. A trial is set for August.

Aberdeen drill sergeant says sex was consensual

Simpson

Simpson, 32, admitted in his Maryland trial that he had sex with five of his six accusers. But he insists the women were all willing partners who had sex with him in return for special treatment.

But the military prosecutor, Capt. Theresa Gallagher, said Simpson was an "unscrupulous" drill sergeant who misused his powerful position to force his sexual attentions on his trainees in 1995 and 1996.

Military Affairs Correspondent Jamie McIntyreand Reuters contributed to this report.

 
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